News - September 2024 RSS Feed

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger Their journeys began from different starting points but the three Iowa women featured in this story share a common passion for accompanying refugees striving to rebuild their lives in Iowa. We share their stories to raise awareness about National Migration Week, Sept. 23-29, which culminates with the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) on Sept. 29. Some 43.4 million refugees are among 120 million people forcibly displaced as of May 2024, USA for the UN Refugee Agency reports.

Election Day 2024 is just two months from today, a good reminder that we have a responsibility to model faithful citizenship that sets a respectful, charitable tone for democracy in the public square. This responsibility requires more than good intentions. It requires prayer, Scripture reading and reflection, studying Catholic Social Teaching and applying that teaching to the platform priorities of each major political party and the stated priorities of our candidates for political office.

While visiting a parish in his diocese recently, Bishop Gabriel Edoe Kumordji, SVD of Ghana, Africa was dismayed to find the church building without a roof. A strong wind blew it off in the coastal community of West Africa. Just a year ago, he advised the parish to plant trees to serve as a windbreak to protect the building. Trees had not been planted.